Dawn Kane begins her 13th season on the Duke swimming and diving staff after being elevated to the position of associate head coach in August, 2014. She has played an integral role in the development of the program since arriving in Durham with head coach Dan Colella in 2005-06.

Kane has been instrumental in building the Duke swimming and diving program to its current level of success, guiding student-athletes to numerous achievements at the conference, national and international levels. Under Kane's guidance, the Duke men and women have made appearances at the last nine NCAA Championship meets and continue to make strides within the ACC.

Kane has directed the Duke men and women to numerous program firsts, including five NCAA individual titles, a conference crown in a relay event (200 freestyle relay - 2011) and three ACC records (Peter Kropp, 100 breaststroke - 2014, 2017; 200 medley relay - 2012). The school record books and all-time top-10 lists have been completely re-written under her watch, and both the men's and women's teams have broken into the top 20 nationally at the NCAA Championships. In addition, Kane was nominated for CollegeSwimming.com's Honorable Mention Assistant Coach of the Year Award at the conclusion of the 2011-12 campaign.

Both the men's and women's programs scored at the 2017 NCAA Championships, with senior Peter Kropp claiming first team All-America honors in the 100-yard breaststroke. Kropp joined Piotr Safronczyk as the only Duke All-Americans in that event, and became the eighth individual All-American in men's program history. Eight Blue Devils represented the women's team in Indianapolis, headlined by diver MaryEllen Targonski's honorable mention All-America performance on the platform. Leah Goldman earned a top-20 finish in the 100 butterfly after she and Kropp both collected podium finishes at the conference championship. During the 2016-17 regular season, the Duke program made history as both squads defeated North Carolina in dual meet action. The men topped the Tar Heels for the first time since 1939 and the women for the first time in program history.

A program record 18 swimmers with Duke ties competed at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, up from nine in 2012. Blue Devil alumna Ashley Twichell advanced to the finals of the women's 800-meter freestyle after excelling in open water swimming with 5K and 10K open water national championships in 2012. Michael Miller also shined at the 2016 meet in Omaha, reaching the semifinals of the men's 100 butterfly.

A historic 2015-16 season saw Duke's 200-yard medley relay of Kaz Takabayashi, Kropp, David Armstrong and James Peek became the first relay in program history to earn All-America honors of any kind. The group placed 14th in the country for honorable mention All-America recognition after automatically qualifying for NCAAs for a second consecutive season. The Duke men were also ranked 19th in the final CSCAA Division I poll of the season, while both the men's and women's programs entered the national rankings during the year for the first time in school history.

The Blue Devil women qualified a program record seven swimmers to the 2016 NCAA Championships, while Goldman and Isabella Paez competed at the national meet as freshmen the year before. In 2015, Goldman turned in a third-place showing in the 100 butterfly at the ACC Championships, becoming just the second female swimmer to garner all-conference accolades as a rookie during Colella's tenure at Duke.

The women featured six swimmers at the 2014 NCAA Championships, qualifying a relay to the national meet for the first time. On the men's side, Nick McCrory became the first athlete in NCAA Championship history to win four national championships in men's platform diving. McCrory also swept the three diving events once again at the 2014 ACC Championship.

In a remarable showing for the program during the summer of 2012, McCrory and fellow Blue Devil diver Abby Johnston represented the United States at the 2012 London Olympic Games. Johnston and Kelci Bryant garnered the United States' first Olympic medal in a synchronized diving event, taking silver in the women's synchronized 3-meter competition. One day later, McCrory and David Boudia brought home the second medal for the U.S., a bronze in the men's synchronized platform event.

A 2002 graduate of Brown University and an eight-year member of the Jamaican National Swimming Squad, Kane brought extensive international and collegiate swimming experience to the Duke program. She is a two-time participant in the Olympic Games, having represented Jamaica in 2000 and 2004, and has earned medals in the Carifta Games, Caribbean Island Swimming Championships, Centro Americano y del Caribe Nataciones and Caribbean and Central American Games. Kane also represented Jamaica at the Pan American Games in 1999 (Winnipeg) and 2003 (Santo Domingo), as well as the Commonwealth Games in 2002 (Manchester) and added even more international experience to her resume when she coached the Jamaican National team at the 2007 World Championship meet in Melbourne, Australia.

Kane graduated in 2002 with a bachelor of science degree in psychology from Brown, where she was team captain of the swim team her senior year and is still in the record books as a member of the 400 and 800 freestyle relay teams that set school records in 2001. She was the Ivy League Champion in the 200 freestyle in 2001 and the 100 freestyle in 2002, and participated in the 2002 NCAA Championships.

Kane went on to earn a masters degree in Human Performance at the University of Florida in 2005. While in Gainesville, she worked as a swim instructor for Swim America of Gainesville and the Gator Swim Club.